Spare the Air record is official after Bay Area’s latest alert is extended to Saturday

In a record year for bad air quality, a new standard was set after the Bay Area Air Quality Management District on Thursday extended a Spare the Air alert through Saturday.

The decision by the district marked the record 47th and 48th days in 2020 that an alert has been in place, setting a new standard for a calendar year. It also gave the Bay Area its second streak of alerts that have lasted at least two straight weeks.

The record for a calendar year was 46 alerted days in 2017, district spokesman Aaron Richardson said.

As usual, he said, fire smoke continues to be receive the blame.

“The Glass fire in Napa and Sonoma counties will be impacting parts of the North Bay, and we’re concerned it could be unhealthy around that region,” Richardson said. “The rest of us will probably be pretty clean.”

Smoke from fires in Oregon also may drift in from the ocean, Richardson said.

At 9 a.m. Thursday, the district’s official air quality index reading in Napa was 107, meaning it was unhealthful for any with breathing problems. Pleasanton and Livermore had good air quality below 50 on the AQI, and the rest of the region had moderate air quality between 51 and 100.

The current Spare the Air alert will keep wood and fuel burning illegal through Saturday and began Sept. 27. Until 2018, when the Camp fire burned in Butte County, the district never had issued two straight weeks of alerts.

The district issued a record 30 consecutive alerts from Aug. 18 to Sept. 16.

The Glass fire has burned 67,420 acres and was 66% contained Thursday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.